UFC & Setanta

rovert

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article6445881.ece

From The Sunday TimesJune 7, 2009

Setanta switch off is looming
The sports broadcaster faces collapse if it fails to reach agreement with rights holders and investors on a rescue plan Kate Walsh
SETANTA, the sports broadcaster, is on the brink of collapse this weekend as it struggles to agree a rescue plan with rights holders and investors.

Deloitte, the accountancy firm, is on stand-by to put the company into administration. This would mean Setanta could disappear f r o m t h e a i r w a v es immediately.

For the past six months Setanta – which has 1.2m customers, considerably short of the 1.9m needed to break even – has been desperately trying to raise new capital to meet rights’ payments.The broadcaster has until tomorrow to pay the Scottish Premier League (SPL) £3m as part of its £31m a year deal.

The SPL held an emergency meeting last Wednesday to discuss the situation and has already decided to dip into its own emergency funds to distribute the payments to member clubs.

Setanta needs a team effort to carry on
Sky says no to Setanta appeal for funds
There are also huge repercussions for the Barclays Premier League, which is awaiting a £35m payment from Setanta due on June 15.

The company’s collapse could result in a fire sale of rights, including the £425m four-year deal for England and FA Cup matches it shares with ITV. Analysts say no-one will pay anywhere near Setanta’s rates to pick up the contract.

Setanta was started in a pub in Ealing, west London, in 1990 by founders Mickey O’Rourke and Leonard Ryan who bought the rights to the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup game against Holland and screened it, charging £5 entry.

The most likely outcome is understood to be a straightforward administration with most of the rights reverting to their holders.

Man I hope UFC 100 is on the Telly.

calex71

I dont watch ufc on setanta so it matters little to me.

However I would hate to see it go to sky as the PPV price would be between 20-30 an event which is a huge increase in what people pay to see it.

UFC will probably want to keep it as cheap as possible to build the market though i'd think.

The likes of the football will find a home else where and is actually a good thing there for folks who already pay to watch the football as now they would only have to pay for sky sports.

The down side to this also is that for example if UFC went to bravo , you wont see affliction or strike force etc on there as im sure the ufc wouldnt want that :mad:

Fozzy

It's unfortunate. If Sky can pick up the UFC then they probably will, but they'll probably be picking up other stuff too, meaning less room in their schedule for everything

I don't subscribe to Setanta myself, but with some big shows airing on Setanta Ireland, along with some Countdown shows and the Setanta Sports News show that I sometimes catch, I'd miss it. As well as the few late night showings I'd have at a mate's house

hmmmmmm

This is not good, the reason I get Setanta is for the UFC. Setanta do give the UFC a excellent platform , I can't see Sky Sports giving it the same exposure, if Sky was to take it up. I say it could go back to Bravo, which is a backwward step.

calex71

hmmmmmm wrote: »

I say it could go back to Bravo, which is a backwward step.

Yes indeed, especially as they did show the last affliction event.

It wont go to sky as Sky have WWE. Both UFC and WWE can not be on the same channel in the UK.
A new channel could come in and pick up the content .

gimmick

Eurosport FTW. Thery can even put their own commentators on it like they did with TNA and All Japan wrestling. Man, that would be painful.

Does the WWE/UFC thing exist in the UK though? Is that not just a US rule?

rovert

Deleted User wrote: »

It wont go to sky as Sky have WWE. Both UFC and WWE can not be on the same channel in the UK.

Then why did Sky bid for them last time round?

joepenguin

Maybe sky could put up a channel for combat sports. Say for example UFC, WWE(or try to nab tna if there is some ruling), boxing etc etc.

Basically a high profile version of the fight network. It could be a stand alone channel like say mutv where you pay a couple of more pound extra. This would be good for all sports people as most likely all the football will be on one channel and all the combat sports on one as well.

WWE have all their ppvs on sundays. ufc and boxing often clash so id imagine they would just out one ppv in the case of this happening.

Sky will probably pick up ufc though and put it on ppv if this happens:(

rovert

joepenguin wrote: »

Sky will probably pick up ufc though and put it on ppv if this happens:(

Id defo pay if it was shown in HD.

Quadsey

This is bad news alright, i can't see sky picking it up as they would be dirtying there bib with WWE who they have a long running relationship with. Bravo is probably no go due to affliction and strikeforce been shown on it, i don't think TFN could afford it.
Slightly off topic but are there any online spources to watch the UFC events?

Perfect fit

what about Virgin, they already have the ultimate fighter and its freeview here and in the uk -- and there loaded so can afford it

Quadsey

Perfect fit wrote: »

what about Virgin, they already have the ultimate fighter and its freeview here and in the uk -- and there loaded so can afford it

I was just talking to my friend and thats exactly what he said! Think you could be onto a winner there, apperantly there getting 350 thousand viewers on a sunday night for TUF.

Professey Chin

Quadsey wrote: »

This is bad news alright, i can't see sky picking it up as they would be dirtying there bib with WWE who they have a long running relationship with. Bravo is probably no go due to affliction and strikeforce been shown on it, i don't think TFN could afford it.
Slightly off topic but are there any online spources to watch the UFC events?

Yahoo is the official broadcaster but you gotta pay the US price per PPV

paulieeye

Direct TV here in the US charges $45 PPV ($55 for HD) for UFC.

On a seperate note, setanta over here charge $20 on the door for all soccer (and GAA) ppv in pubs. Ireland v Bulgaria last wknd cost myself and the old doll 40 quid and the pub was jointed. They do this for all english and other european national games too, must make a packet. That on top of the thousands they charge the pub for their 'premium' channels. U actually couldnt get the Ireland match on ur home setanta channels, was only broadcast on their premium channels which are only available to pubs for thousands per year. Scam artists

Fromvert

:eek: That is ****ing disgraceful, $20 a game, each. They deserve to go down the pan for **** like that.

Perfect fit

paulieeye wrote: »

Direct TV here in the US charges $45 PPV ($55 for HD) for UFC.

On a seperate note, setanta over here charge $20 on the door for all soccer (and GAA) ppv in pubs. Ireland v Bulgaria last wknd cost myself and the old doll 40 quid and the pub was jointed. They do this for all english and other european national games too, must make a packet. That on top of the thousands they charge the pub for their 'premium' channels. U actually couldnt get the Ireland match on ur home setanta channels, was only broadcast on their premium channels which are only available to pubs for thousands per year. Scam artists

miss read my bad, thats disgraceful, hopefully ireland doesnt go that way

T-K-O

It is a real shame about Setanta they offer a great service consisting of many different sports.


I'm sure Dodgy boxes have had a lot to do with this.

Killme00

T-K-O wrote: »

I'm sure Dodgy boxes have had a lot to do with this.

I can bull on this


Setanta has 1.2m subscribers and they need 1.9m to break even. They arent losing 700,000 subscribers to dodgy boxes (ie people who would subscibe if dodgy boxes didnt exist). They over extended themselves when bidding for soccer and thats what has fcked them.

As for the future of UFC on tv, im sure it will find a home on some satelite channel. I dont think it will be as mainstream a channel as Sky though.

T-K-O

700,000 dodgy boxes in the country. Absolutely.

shenanigans1982

T-K-O wrote: »

I'm sure Dodgy boxes have had a lot to do with this.

I think the majority of people that were using them would never have subscribed to Setanta in the first place. So it's not really that big of a loss. Besides most of them do not work now so if Setanta can hang on for a while then by your logic there should be a huge jump in the number of subscribers and everyth9ng might work out ok.

mirwillbeback

T-K-O wrote: »

700,000 dodgy boxes in the country. Absolutely.

Are they not gone now, i know that my, er, friends one went about a month ago and em, they had to go back to Sky.

T-K-O

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

I think the majority of people that were using them would never have subscribed to Setanta in the first place. So it's not really that big of a loss. Besides most of them do not work now so if Setanta can hang on for a while then by your logic there should be a huge jump in the number of subscribers and everyth9ng might work out ok.

No they would not have subscribed to Setanta. Why would they ??

Trust me there is going to be a huge jump in the subscriptions and I hope they can hang in there. The first weekend the boxes went my local was jammed for the football - I couldn't get my usual seat

T-K-O

mirwillbeback wrote: »

Are they not gone now, i know that my, er, friends one went about a month ago and em, they had to go back to Sky.

You don't hang around with the scally aswell !! There is a "new" box .

d'Oracle

gimmick wrote: »

Eurosport FTW. Thery can even put their own commentators on it like they did with TNA and All Japan wrestling. Man, that would be painful.

SENSEI WILL VANDERS!!!

Utopia Parkway

hmmmmmm wrote: »

This is not good, the reason I get Setanta is for the UFC. Setanta do give the UFC a excellent platform , I can't see Sky Sports giving it the same exposure, if Sky was to take it up. I say it could go back to Bravo, which is a backwward step.

I believe Sky bid for the UFC last time out but the UFC accepted a lesser deal from Setanta as they were prepared to promote it as one of the channel's main sports which to be fair they did. Sky could very well come back in now but they are highly unlikely to promote it or dedicate as much programming to is as Setanta have done.

I don't think the UFC will want their shows on PPV in Europe just yet. There isn't a tradition of PPV in Europe like there is in the US and they will want their shows going free to air in Europe until they have built up a large enough fanbase where PPV might be possible in a few years time.

Fozzy

There may be a problem with it going to Bravo or Virgin as well. Those two channels are among a group of six channels that I have read are being sold. Sky have been rumoured to be preparing a bid, who knows if they'll even keep the channels on air? On the other hand it could work out well if Sky get UFC too and just turn Bravo into what Setanta was for UFC

I also read a report from Scotland that Setanta may be shutting down at midnight tonight, which would mean no show this weekend for us. I'll look for a link

EDIT: http://news.stv.tv/scotland/101496-setanta-prepares-to-pull-the-plug-amid-cash-shortage/

Says they may go into administration tomorrow, which would mean they'd stop broadcasting

rovert

Please last until Sunday Morning

Fromvert

Saturday night that is. A mate was telling me today that it would be shown on SS Ireland, not sure how true that is though.

rovert

There is a million and one rumours going round from that Setanta HAVE to show UFC regardless of their situation to Sky taking UFC 99 on with a plan to put UFC 100 on Box Office.

Fozzy

Fromvert wrote: »

Saturday night that is. A mate was telling me today that it would be shown on SS Ireland, not sure how true that is though.

It's on the listings on my NTL box, so it's pretty much true. It's not the first big show they've shown on that channel